Once a neighborhood shopping district for San Antonians, Market Square has evolved into a popular tourist destination. The buildings to the left have been reconditioned and the Museo Alameda has been added at right.

Once a neighborhood shopping district for San Antonians, Market Square has evolved into a popular tourist destination. The buildings to the left have been reconditioned and the Museo Alameda has been added at

Councilman Diego Bernal said it was a decision to bolster the institution until a permanent solution could be found.

“This council decided to roll the dice and keep the doors of the Alameda open in the hopes that at the end of that time that something would happen,” he said. “And I think that's exactly what's transpired.”

Until A&M-San Antonio stepped in, the future of the Museo Alameda “wasn't looking good, quite frankly,” Deputy City Manager Pat DiGiovanni said. “I don't believe there was any appetite to continue that relationship.”

Still, he praised the museum's current board, headed by chairman Rolando Pablos, for keeping the institution afloat.

“The folks that inherited the Museo Alameda over the last couple of years have done a yeoman's job of trying to keep it open and alive,” DiGiovanni said. “They should get credit for being a partner with us and extending the clock so that we could find another partner like A&M to come in here.”

Pablos, board chairman since June 2010, hailed the council's decision as “a very positive thing for San Antonio, and I'm just glad that I was given an opportunity to keep that dream alive,” he said.

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Known as the Centro de Artes building, the Market Square facility will give a downtown presence to A&M-San Antonio, the second university system to expand into the city's urban core. It's just a few blocks east of the University of Texas at San Antonio's downtown campus.

“That's something that we had thought would be a wonderful idea,” said Marilu Reyna, the A&M-San Antonio's associate vice president for institutional advancement and university communications. “We don't have a fine arts program but thought this was a fine way to get it started. It just seemed like a win-win situation.”

Though it no longer will be known as the Museo Alameda, the city-owned space will continue to “tell the story of the Latino experience,” said Felix Padrón, director of the city's Office of Cultural Affairs.

The council approved a new five-year lease with A&M-San Antonio, which has a 20-year renewal option. The university will pay the same rent as Centro Alameda Inc. did — $1 per year.

For the first three years of the lease, the city has agreed to spend as much as $305,000 annually for security and major maintenance. The city has also committed $150,000 annually for the first three years for exhibit programming.

“This is about maximizing dollars and expertise,” Padrón said. “This is obviously a new venture for them, and I think that also we do know that we can bring some other resources to build a meaningful program.”

After the initial three years, A&M-San Antonio has proposed taking over the costs associated with the building, with the support of the university system.

“What a wonderful day for Texas A&M-San Antonio,” President Maria Ferrier said. “In conversations with our chancellor and with our board of regents, they have pledged total support from the system to make this a vibrant educational (facility).”

Padrón told the council that part of A&M-San Antonio's funding strategy will be to generate revenue from renting the space for special events, conferences and community programs.

The university also plans to create a robust educational component at the facility, including developing a kindergarten-to-12th-grade summer program for fine arts, a program for community-based fine arts education and college courses for its students.

A&M-San Antonio won't inherit any of the debt incurred by Centro Alameda Inc. Pablos, the nonprofit's chairman, said he hopes to make good on the $900,000 it owes vendors.

“It may be on a percentage basis, but I'm going to try to be honorable with everyone who deserves money,” he said.

A&M-San Antonio is set to move in Nov. 1, Reyna said. She anticipates programming to begin in early 2013. Plans for the new center's initial offerings include an exhibit of work by San Antonio artists.

“We know the public is going to be asking for something soon,” she said. “But we want to do it right, so it's going to take a little time.”